About

Deborah J Long is a Croydon-based South London artist, originally born in Zimbabwe with South African roots. She studied Graphic Design at ML Sultan Technikon in Durban, where she developed a strong foundation in drawing, painting and visual communication.

Her work explores identity, transformation, memory, protection and the unseen worlds that shape us. Through female figures, sacred objects and recurring symbols such as the eye, crow, circle and mirror, she creates contemporary icons that sit between the personal and the universal.

Drawing on her background in graphic design, her paintings combine bold graphic forms, expressive marks and layered symbolism. Influenced by spirituality, mythology, queer identity and ancestral memory, her work explores what it means to lose parts of ourselves and find a way back to wholeness.

She is currently developing a body of work that merges raw mark-making, sacred symbolism and contemporary portraiture, creating pieces that are both powerful and imperfect — images of becoming, resilience and transformation.